December 2009
I had the cambelt changed on my 1997 1.25 16v Zetec engined Fiesta by a small local French garage, billed for 2.5 hrs labour (total 110?). Has anybody got the book time?
I thought that the book time was 3.5 hrs (with P/S), or is my memory failing? Rhetorical question, I know it is!
A good result, because otherwise the car would have been left in an airport carpark at 90?.
I supplied the Gates cambelt kit - which had been riding in the boot for the last 18 months as a guarantee that terminal failure would occur. Read more
There is another thread running re high power light bulbs in which it seems to imply that bulbs are now available in right or left hand dip. This seems likely to me in that most cars now have comletely bank smooth lenses and I presume the dip pattern is generated by the bulb - is this the case?
If it is it would seem to be much easier for the car manufacturers to arrange for the bulb, in its holder, to rotated a few degrees so that the beam would change from UK pattern, flat on the right up a bit to the left ,to Coninental, flat on the left up a bit to the right. This could be achieved by rotating the holder about 15 degrees anti clockwise.
Funny old thing, I seem to recall that some cars had a little toggle, years ago, which achieved just this effect. If changing bulbs was easy I would rather do that for a trip across the Channel than mess about with stick on beam deflectors.
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I have a Skoda Roomster I exported to Portugal. They changed the headlights with the "flatening" bar on the headlights for registration over there. Now I need to conver it back to UK headlights since moving back. You say you managed- can you please say how and if possible provide a photo? Many thanks!
hi i have a 54 plate zafira design . the problem i have is the heater is so quiet it seems that its not working but it is, i cant here it on 1-3 but it is working and on 4 i can only just here it is this common or have i got a faulty one cheers. ps only had the car a month and was like this when i got it. Read more
thanks for all your help i have got a pollen filter on the way see how it goes once fitted.
Hey all,
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 design hatchback - error code P0115 - Thermostat engine fuel tank
Friend had some work done at a local garage, but when they got the car back the error light was still illuminated. The local garage said they do not have the equipment to reset the lilght and have advised to disconnect the battery for 4 hours and this will extinguish the light. A couple of questions:
1. Is the garage talking pink fluffy dice about the 4 hour thing?
2. Is there any other way of getting rid of the light ie ignition turns, sticker over the light etc.....
3. If we do disconnect the battery, then we will require the radio code (we don't have one ) Any ideas the best place to get the radio code.
Thanks for any help offered!!! Read more
nice one. Thanks guys.
My son's old Xsara doesn't circulate the water properly. The thermostat opens OK and we've flushed it through. The flushing water runs through the heater OK and out of the anti-airlock 'bicycle valve' on the exit pipe with gusto. The rad is ok.
It seems as though the impellor of the water pump isn't working. Can this happen?
I suspect there is a tiny head-gasket leak as it loses small amounts of water and it seems to be overly pressurised. Could such pressure overcome the pumping action of the impellor? We would be very grateful for any expert answers to these questions. Read more
Just in case anyone's interested - my diagnosis was correct. It looks as though some sort of plastic compound has dissolved/disintegrated leaving five thin flat steel blades, to which it it was glued, spinning uselessly in the water. The absent plastic stuff should have done the actual impelling.
I have never seen this type of water pump impeller failure described anywhere but it must be pretty common as there are lots of these engines around in Peugeots.
I thought some of HJ's resident experts might have mentioned this - perhaps it needs publicising - or perhaps it really was a rare one-off.
Just a little game to test your knowledge of your local roads.
Travelling with SWMBO on the M60 this morning, she drove for a change. This gave me time to look around. It's a route we use all the time.
It has a long slip road and starts at Junction 4 Eastbound M60 and winds it's way up and down, over and under other slip roads, railways and M60 itself, coming out on the A34 southbound.
Just out of interest, we clocked it on the odometer from the start of the hatchings to becoming part of the A34 proper.
We clocked it at just over a mile and 3 quarters !
Are there longer ones ?
Ted Read more
I occasionally use Reigate and always wonder why it is quite so long.
At this point the M25 is rising up the scarp face of the North Downs and the gradient must be nearing the maximum allowed in the standards. The slip road rises to up even further, to the roundabout above the motorway, and so the slip road was always going to be very long.
However it was much shorter before the widening/rebuilding of the M23/M25 junction. Also the first half mile or so of the sliproad is at much the same level as the main carriageway.
My best guess is that it is an attempt to get the traffic onto the sliproad before the steepest part of the hill. If this was not done the slowing lorries would make it more difficult for the faster traffic to get across to the sliproad due to the speed differentials.
A friend of mine bought the above car to-day. he phoned me tonight to inform me the (30 A fuse) for the central locking keeps blowing. on checking AD locations vol 4, it lists a door function control module drivers side. Does anyone know of any issues with these or maybe someone has come across the same problem. any feedback would be greatly appreciated
Best Regards mickeybo
{Edited header, some punctuation added to make for easier reading, and 'txt' talk replaced with proper words} Read more
I would suggest you start by checking the wiring that runs up the hinge to the bootlid.Often find broken,shorted or chafed wires.hth
I had the thermostat replaced on my second hand Zafira replaced under warrenty because the temperature guage never reached 90 degrees, even in the middle of summer in traffic jams it seems to stay at about 85.
I have had the car back for nearly two weeks and now and it never gets above about 83 degrees which is even worse. For example
I drove 90 miles yesterday on a mix of country, town and motorway roads, the outside temperature was about 10 degrees and it never went above about 83 degrees which seems to me too cool
Every car I have owned; once warmed up runns at 90 degrees and I am concirned that this will increase my fuel consumption.
My questions are:
What is the correct running temperature of the water in a Zafira 2.2 SRi once warmed up.
What effect will this have on the fuel consumption
I'm guessing that the guage or thermometer may be at fault or the garage did not do the repair.
Any thoughts?
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I think Vauxhall have had loads of comments and queries regarding coolant temperatures, this is probably why my wife's new 1.9cdti has no temp gauge at all!!
The 2.0dti that she had, used to run at a steady 85 to 87 degrees C, but on a cold morning, it could take 7 miles to reach that from start up. The heater was well warm long before the gauge moved.
For some reason all of the switches below the heater fan controls (air recirculation, air con and heated rear window) have all suddenly stopped working as has the actual heating (i.e. turning the heater temperature control has no effect), fuses are all OK. The fan control still works fine, flaps open/close OK, heater matrix seems OK. I've read on the internet that other people have suffered the same failure but no-one has posted a solution Read more
Just got Astra back from Vauxhalls main dealer today, everything working now!! including heater and aircon, so it was the "Heater control panel".
I have a big problem with my megane. Engine keeps cutting out usually when driving in rain or through water that can get to the engine. The revs are falling down and then the car stops after a while, it often happens while trying to change gear. The when I am trying to start it up, the engine turns but it is not starting. The AA people have not helped, other than towing to garage. There I was told it is crank sensor, so they have changed it and reset the computer, and following day car started. Paid £150 for that and the next time it was raining, same thing again, drove through some water and engine died. The car mechaninc can not find the fault, and I have no idea what more to do!! please help Read more
hi there jagoda
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Browse
The Zetec-SE engines (AKA Sigma engines) were badged as Zetec-S. They are one and the same engine and have come in 1.25, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.7 litre capacities (Puma only)
Any 16v Fiesta (that's not an XR2i or RS1800) will have a Zetec-SE of some flavour under the bonnet.